Cade Cunningham’s first NBA All-Star Game start a part of his plan

LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles is known for the bright lights of Hollywood, movie stars, a wide array of entertainers and, of course, sunshine. During the 2026 NBA All-Star Game, Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham is looking forward to basking in that brightness with some of entertainment’s biggest celebrities sitting courtside watching him play at the Intuit Dome.

“It’s a bigger stage, and that’s the beauty of the game,” Cunningham recently told Andscape. “I didn’t fall in love with the game because of the stage that it was. But eventually, I learned to love being on the biggest stage possible and playing in the highest stake games. That’s what I loved doing.

“Being in an All-Star game in L.A., it ain’t no bigger stage than that. You can’t replicate that anywhere else. It’s like you practice, you have quizzes throughout the year and then this is the big test that passes the grade. Those are the big ones that mean something, that just mean more.”

Cunningham is proud of the Pistons leading the Eastern Conference with 40 wins at the All-Star break. Cunningham, who is playing for the USA Stars in the All-Star Game, certainly is deserving of the honor, as he’s averaging 25.3 points, 9.6 assists (second in the NBA) and 5.6 rebounds. The two-time NBA All-Star is also proud of landing his first voting nod as an Eastern Conference starter.

But in terms of winning over the fans to be viewed in the same company as LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Victor Wembanyama, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Luka Doncic, that is still a work in progress.

Cunningham ranked 14th in the NBA’s top selling jersey list on Jan. 20. His Pistons didn’t rank among the top 10 in jersey sales among teams, and Cunningham didn’t rank among the top 10 NBA players on social media in a list posted on Dec. 23.

However, the 24-year-old ranked first in the Eastern Conference in voting by players for All-Star starters. He said that “meant more to me than anything else.” In the fan All-Star voting, Cunningham ranked fourth in the East behind Antetokounmpo, Tyrese Maxey and Jalen Brunson, respectively.

On how to earn fans’ love, Cunningham said: “I don’t know. That is all up to them. Maybe its continuing on this path for longer. Them seeing it more and more and being more exposed to what’s going on and then them understanding it. I don’t know. I think it’ll come. I just want to continue to win and continue to lead my team.”

One way it will come for Cunningham is winning on the highest level.

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Cunningham perhaps didn’t get as much attention as a college star would normally while playing at an All-America level for Oklahoma State during the 2020-21 season. The Pistons selected him No. 1 overall in the 2021 NBA draft.

During Cunningham’s first three seasons, Detroit was definitely off the radar while struggling to win 23, 17 and 14 games, respectively. The 2023-24 Pistons set the NBA record for the longest single-season losing streak, losing 28 consecutive games.

But even during that dark losing skid, Cunningham and some of his Pistons teammates had championship dreams.

“When we had that streak, we were talking championship, believe it or not,” Cunningham said. “It was me. It was Stew [Isaiah Stewart], JD [Jalen Duren] and Ausar [Thompson], JI [former Pistons guard Jaden Ivey]. It was all of us. We had this in our vision for a long time before we figured it out. We just had to figure it out.

“To be where we are now is cool. But it’s just a step in this process. We have a long way to go.”

Cunningham and the Pistons had a turnaround campaign last season, winning 44 games and testing the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs. The Pistons entered the All-Star break with a 5½-game lead over the second-place Boston Celtics in the East. Detroit has a chance to be the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs for the first time since 2006.

Cunningham said that while “the fans might not understand it yet,” the rest of the NBA knows “we come ready to play.” He said it’s on the Pistons to continue to succeed to earn attention and nationally televised games. Considering the early struggles in his career and his grandmother’s words of wisdom, Cunningham says he won’t let the rise in success get to his head.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get a big head,” Cunningham said. “Something my grandma used to always say is, ‘Just stay humble.’ And this was way before I was ever known for basketball or anything. I had nothing that people were gassing me up about. But she was always saying, ‘Stay humble.’

“So that’s how I want to remain. I don’t want to be too big time for anybody or anything. The whole team is built like that. A lot of guys on this team overcame a lot to get here. And so, we kind of bond over that.”

Cunningham wasn’t a member of the USA Basketball team that won a gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Dallas native would love to represent his country in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. And the 2028 men’s basketball competition just happens to be at the Intuit Dome, where Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game will be played.

“The L.A. All-Star Game was part of that plan,” Cunningham said. “I wanted to make sure I’m in there. And then win a championship and be an Olympic point guard. It’s all part of the long-term plan, for sure.”

James, Curry, and Durant are each over 35 years old. In the near future, the torch they’ve held for years will be passed to another American NBA star. If Cunningham can lead the Pistons to their first NBA title since 2004 and make the Olympic team, there is no question he will be viewed as one of the elites.

“I could take the torch by continuing to work, continue to be better each and every year, continue to take steps as far as leading this team to more and more wins,” Cunningham said. “Winning the championship is the ultimate goal. And then once that happens, staying poised and staying humble, coming back the next year and working every game. It’s a process.

“There’s a lot of different things that go into it. All those [top] guys did all that stuff and put the work in. So, that’s what I want to do. But I think also [it’s important] just having the respect of your competitors and them knowing and making sure you impose that on them.”

Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who is an NBA All-Star head coach, believes Cunningham is “right there with them all” in terms of the NBA’s top stars.

“He is a [6-foot-6] point guard who dominates all areas of the offensive end of the floor,” Bickerstaff told Andscape. “But what I don’t think people talk about enough is his defense, his willingness to guard the other team’s best players.

“The impact that he has on that end of the floor – to me, he’s one of the top five two-way players in our league. There may be some guys that they talk about offensively, but his impact is on both ends of the floor. There’s not many guys in this league that are that way.”

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